At the Beacon Centre we strive to educate the whole young person, giving them access to life opportunities that might otherwise not be available to them. We are proud of the work we do with our young people and of the work they do. Here are some photos of some of the amazing things that have happened this term!
We are the Beacon Centre!
World Book Day was a Cross Site affair this year with some fantastic work being completed by all young people.
Here are some more photographs of World Book Day at our Primary Site.
We prioritise reading as we believe that the ability to read unlocks the world for our pupils. All of our pupils read to an adult every day bat school, and are encouraged to read to an adult at home every evening.
We actively encourage all of our pupils to read for pleasure and have developed a wonderful library which everyone loves to use. As you can see, they really do love reading.
Meanwhile at our Secondary site, young people engaged in reading and writing tasks. They read the published work of their peers and attempted to write similar stories.
They also had a book club in which they discussed their favourite books and talked about what they liked about them.
Well done to everyone involved.
As usual, the children at Beacon Primary have taken part in lots of outdoor learning activities during lesson time and also during breaks and lunch times.
This week, Red Class looked at man-made and natural materials, read in the wooden chair, practiced handwriting and consolidated the whole part method in maths.
During breaks and lunch times they put out the fireworks when thinking about firework safety, investigated measurement in the water trays, worked together to build dens and got physical taking part in an obstacle course and slide.
What a great way to learn, Red Class!
This week Yellow Class brought the outdoors inside and explored art and design using different objects from around the school to create some fantastic texture prints.
Lucas, Jack and James mixed autumnal colours using the paint, compared results and gave feedback to each other about their work.
Well done Yellow Class!
At Primary, outdoor learning is part of the timetable across the whole curriculum.
This week Blue Class have used the outdoor area to help identify different materials in Science.
They used natural objects to help check if mathematical statements are true or false. Millie and Malaki represented ‘tens’ with larger objects like leaves and ‘ones’ with smaller objects like shells or stones.
Today they have uncovered common exception words in the sand area, and practiced writing them and putting them into sentences with chalk.
Great job Blue Class!
Aspens and Redwoods went to Blyth beach on Friday 24th September. The visit was inspired by the book ‘Holes’ which Key Stage 3 are currently studying in English; students were tasked with attempting to dig a five foot wide and five foot deep hole just as the characters were made to do in the book. We didn’t make it to five foot deep but we certainly have sympathy for the characters following our experience!
We have just received the printed books containing the published work of three of our young people! A huge well done to Shane, Sam and Isaac! Each of whom have received a copy of the book and a certificate from Young Writers. If you would like to read their fantastic stories, you can do so below.
Nobody believed he was innocent, everyone though he did it. There was all the proof you needed. The body, the gun, the witnesses, even what’d happened in the past. Everyone knew about their big fight and he hit her straight across the face and walked out on her. He says that night never happened. Anyway, back to the present now. He was found next to her body on his hands and knees, covered in blood. The cops stormed into the room. He ran straight out the window and has been running since.
Young Writers – Case Files: Unsolved, On the Run – Page 130
People think the dead can’t talk, but what people don’t know is the so-called dead are alive. I’m thirty-three years old, I’ve been on the run since I was seventeen as I got involved with the wrong crowd, which ended up in a bad situation. One night the gang and I was involved with decided they were going to rob a bank. I’m now FBI’s most wanted as all my accomplices got caught at the scene. I had been a fugitive for sixteen years until the courtroom drama in which I was found not guilty, the case is left unsolved…
Young Writers – Case Files: Unsolved, On the Run – Page 131
His body lay on the floor in a puddle of his own blood, his body still gasping for air with a bullet in his lung. This was the third gang-related shooting this week.
He was walking through the street he walked through every day to get to his nan’s from school but he was a little bit late, he walked past a few people and noticed that he was getting followed, they started shouting at him, then they chased him, he was running for about five minutes. He turned a corner. All he heard was bang!
Young Writers – Case Files: Unsolved, On the Run – Page 132
If you are feeling inspired by these great stories, you can enter the current Young Writers Competition ” Spine-Chillers” by following this link:
https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/writing-portal/start?code=69821-503
We are delighted to announce that three of our Young People have been chosen for publication in the latest Young Writers Competition. You can read their stories below! Well done Sam, Shane and Isaac!
If you are feeling inspired and would like to try your hand at the latest writing competition, following the link here to see what the criteria is this term! Good luck!
The Beacon Centre is rapidly developing its technology offer and its highly integrated use of ICT within all aspects of learning. To that end the children at Beacon Primary have been using a variety of platforms to help with both English and Maths skills.
Today in Class 1 Mrs Simpson was making good use of Bug Club (a link can be found in the Remote Learning Links section of the website – see below) to help Lacey and Millie improve their reading and comprehension.
Bug club is a platform that allows the children to be assigned texts that are appropriate for their individual reading level with tasks attached that aim to help make reading fun.
Sometimes the children need some additional personalised tasks to complete before they can engage with their more independent online learning. Here Mr Hall is working with Matthew on his phonics sounds, whilst Mrs Roberts worked with Malaki on their language skills.
Meanwhile in Class 2, Mr Popple was using some more of the schools Google Chrome Books to allow the children to access Times Tables Rockstars (a link can be found in the Remote Learning Links section of the website – see below).
TT Rockstars allows children to practise their timetables, complete challenges to each coins to purchase items to personalise their profile. Children are able to challenge each other to see who can achieve the highest scores for a given timestable.
In Class 3, some more fantastic maths was taking place today with Jack looking at his “Number of the Day” today that number was 312! This process helps to build Jack’s confidence so he can better engage with Timetables Rockstars and other online Maths learning platforms. Well done Jack!
You may or may not have heard of, Amanda Gorman, she is the fantastically talented young poet who read her own work at the inauguration of 46th President of America Joe Biden!
What you will undoubtedly be unaware of, is that Amanda Gorman has speech and auditory processing issues. Her triumphant reading of her magnificent poem is truly an inspiration to us all.
If you would like to read more about this amazing young woman, you can do so by following this link:
https://www.understood.org/en/community-events/blogs/making-a-difference/2018/07/25/amanda-gorman-youth-poet-laureate-has-speech-and-auditory-processing-issues?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=evergreen-jan21-mb&utm_content=post-w-image&fbclid=IwAR3khnhCevfhMcDtJcJsr5eRcoPMbc9dZF_jW2psxQQoOBg2I4_SjARQ-yo
When asked how she felt about her monumental achievement, Amanda replied with a typical humility stating:
“I really wanted to use my words to be a point of unity and collaboration and togetherness,”
Gorman told the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme before the ceremony.
“I think it’s about a new chapter in the United States, about the future, and doing that through the elegance and beauty of words.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55738564
If you would like to read the poem for yourself, you can find it below.
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade
We’ve braved the belly of the beast
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn’t always just-ice
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished
We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn’t mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious
Not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
And no one shall make them afraid
If we’re to live up to our own time
Then victory won’t lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we’ve made
That is the promise to glade
The hill we climb
If only we dare
It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it’s the past we step into
and how we repair it
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly succeeded
But while democracy can be periodically delayed
it can never be permanently defeated
In this truth
in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the future
history has its eyes on us
This is the era of just redemption
We feared at its inception
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves
So while once we asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,
we will rise from the windswept northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,
we will rise from the sunbaked south
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it
The Hill We Climb – Amanda Gorman
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